Posted on Leave a comment

eDOC and CompuSource Launch Integrated eSign Solution

CompuSource Systems, Inc., a credit union core data processing company based in western New York, and eDOC Innovations, a Credit Union Service Organization specializing in mobile enterprise digital transaction management, announced the completion and rollout of an eSignature integration for CompuSource clients.

“To meet the evolving technology goals of our clients and in keeping with providing the highest value in core processing, we have introduced an eSignature integration that is available to every credit union currently using our software,” said George Stoll, Software Development Manager at CompuSource. “As we endeavor to be a single-source solution provider to each of our clients, we offer this integration to all of our credit unions at no cost!”

“We appreciate CompuSource for their commitment to provide integrated solutions to all their clients. In building this integration together, we joined our respective organization’s resources to provide a frictionless workflow that facilitates the speedy completion of day-to-day transactions for both credit union staff and members,” said Mark Fierro, CEO of eDOC Innovations. We share the same vision and welcome them as an integral partner in our effort to empower credit unions through deeply integrated digital workflows.”

About CompuSource Systems, Inc.

CompuSource Systems, Inc. employs a service team that supports, evaluates, plans and implements the best core processing system for credit unions. The CompuShare Credit Union Core Processing System is a powerful in-house solution designed for credit unions serving all memberships to 20,000+. CompuShare is ideal for credit unions seeking a permanent solution and the highest value in core processing. Specifically designed for growth-oriented credit unions, CompuShare automates more than just the basics with an intuitive, user-friendly interface. For more information, contact Sales at sales@css4cu.com or call 716-636-3700. https://www.css4cu.com/

About eDOC Innovations, Inc.

eDOC Innovations is the nationwide leader in mobile enterprise digital transaction management and e-commerce software for credit unions. For more than 25 years, eDOC Innovations has been designing solutions to reduce overhead, increase operational efficiency, and provide convenience to members. eDOC Innovations’ products include solutions for remote mobile and in-branch closings, mobile e-signature processing, digital asset lifecycle management, intelligent and interactive form automation, mobile remote deposit capture, electronic statements, and more. To learn more about our technology, visit www.edoclogic.com or give us a call at 800-425-7766 option 3.

Posted on Leave a comment

PSCU to Offer Installment Payments Solution

PSCU, the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization (CUSO), today announced it will soon offer a new Installment Payments solution. A buy-now, pay-later installment plan, the offering allows cardholders to pay for purchases over a fixed timeframe by dividing the purchase amount into smaller fixed payments, giving credit union members the freedom to budget as needed and have more control over their finances.

“The demand for this convenient payment option has grown tremendously as consumers look to play more active roles in managing their financial lives and has been further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has driven consumers to look for more ways to budget and improve their finances,” said Jeremiah Lotz, managing vice president, Digital Experience & Payments at PSCU. “In keeping with our commitment to delivering innovative digital payment solutions, our Installment Payments offering will be designed to provide credit unions a real opportunity to meet that demand, while also increasing cardholder engagement and providing positive member experiences – which will eventually turn into new revenue streams.”

When provided with the option of an installment payment plan, consumers’ average ticket size increases by 50%, according to Visa and Klarna Insights. The same research found that consumers not only tend to spend more – leading to additional revenue for financial institutions – but there is also a 20% increase in repeat purchases when installments are offered. In addition, consumers benefit from the convenience of buy now, pay later without having to apply for a new line of credit. With post-purchase installments, credit union members are using their existing line of credit with their trusted credit union.

The first phase of PSCU’s Installment Payments offering will feature post-purchase installment payments paid over a fixed amount of time, for a fixed amount, and will enable credit unions to customize the criteria for their respective installment offers. The Installment Payments solution will also integrate with PSCU’s Digital Xperience (DX) suite of market-leading digital offerings and will be available through APIs. The Installment Payments solution leverages technology from Fiserv, a leading global provider of payments and financial services solutions.

“With Fiserv, PSCU is enabling new Installment Payments offers to be delivered to credit union members. This technology benefits members by providing more flexible ways to pay and positions PSCU to effectively compete in the new buy now, pay later space,” said Katie Whalen, senior vice president, North America Credit Processing at Fiserv. “We look forward to continuing to partner with PSCU to bring new capabilities to market as consumer purchasing and financing opportunities continue to grow and evolve.”

PSCU will begin piloting Installment Payments with credit unions in the near future, to be followed by a general release.

About PSCU

PSCU, the nation’s premier payments CUSO, supports the success of 1,500 credit unions representing more than 5.4 billion transactions annually. Committed to service excellence and focused on innovation, PSCU’s payment processing, risk management, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital banking, marketing, strategic consulting and mobile platforms help deliver possibilities and seamless member experiences. Comprehensive, 24/7/365 member support is provided by contact centers located throughout the United States. The origin of PSCU’s model is collaboration and scale, and the company has leveraged its influence on behalf of credit unions and their members for more than 40 years. Today, PSCU provides an end-to-end, competitive advantage that enables credit unions to securely grow and meet evolving consumer demands. For more information, visit pscu.com.

Posted on Leave a comment

Asterisk Intelligence announces new partnership with Deb Slavens and BlueOx Credit Union

Deb Slavens, VP of IT from BlueOx Credit Union, recently joined the ranks of the Asterisk Intelligence team with the intention of forming a CUSO that is focused on assisting credit unions with their data resources and how they can best use them. This partnership between Asterisk Intelligence, a division of CU*Answers, and BlueOx Credit Union has allowed Deb to step into the role of a firm that services hundreds of credit unions across the country.

Slavens has begun to build a team of business intelligence professionals at BlueOx Credit Union that will set the stage for the CUSO’s team. “By joining the Asterisk Intelligence team at CU*Answers, I have begun to gain perspective, advice, and professional nurturing that will aide me in my CUSO development journey,” said Slavens. “I look forward to its evolution and sharing between our firms.”

The Asterisk Intelligence team and Deb have worked on several projects together but most recently completed a beta test of the upcoming Tracker Purge that will eventually be introduced to all CU*Answers customers. BlueOx Credit Union partnered with the Asterisk Intelligence team for their shared data warehouse offering, and naturally chose that space as the destination for their purged data. The Asterisk Intelligence team, Deb, and CU*Answers look forward to partnering together on similar projects in the future.

About CU*Answers, Inc.

CU*Answers offers expertise in implementing technical solutions to operational needs, and is a leader in helping credit unions form strategic alliances and partnerships. CU*Answers provides a wide variety of services for credit unions including its flagship CU*BASE® processing system (online and in-house) and Internet development services featuring It’s Me 247 online and mobile banking. Additional services include web development, network design and security, and image check processing. Founded in 1970, CU*Answers is a 100% credit union-owned cooperative CUSO providing services to credit unions representing over 2 million members and $21.5 billion in credit union assets. For more information, visit www.cuanswers.com.

Posted on Leave a comment

PSCU – Year-over-Year Transaction Trends Update (Fifth Week)

PSCU, the nation’s premier payments credit union service organization, has updated its weekly transaction analysis from its Owner credit union members on a same-store basis to identify the impact of COVID-19 on consumer spending and shopping trends. Our infographic is also attached.

To provide relevant updates on market performance, experts from PSCU’s Advisors Plus and Data & Analytics teams today released year-over-year weekly performance trends. In this week’s installment, PSCU compares the fifth week of the year (the week ending Jan. 31, 2021 compared to the week ending Feb. 2, 2020).

“While card payment volume softened for debit and credit in Week 5, overall purchases remain strong, with debit purchases experiencing one of the highest monthly growth rates in recent history,” said Glynn Frechette, SVP, Advisors Plus at PSCU. “Following the Super Bowl this past weekend, we take a deeper dive into the Entertainment sector, where we continue to see significant impact to purchases across all categories.”

  • Although growth rates slowed in Week 5 for credit and debit, overall purchases are still strong as the first month of 2021 closes out.
    • Debit card spend is up 16.8% in Week 5 and debit transactions finished up 2.9%. Debit purchases are lower than the previous four-week average of +25.7% and transactions are also lower than the previous four-week average of +7.8%. For the month of January, debit purchases were up 26% year over year, one of the highest monthly growth rates in recent history.
    • Credit card spend in Week 5 finished up 1.8%, below the previous four-week average of +3.4%. Transactions finished down 4.8%, lower than the previous four-week average of        -2.4%. For the month of January, credit purchases were up 3.4% year over year.
  • Consumers continue to show strong adoption of digital payments, including contactless, mobile wallets and Card Not Present (CNP) alternatives, while using less cash.
    • Contactless “tap-and-go” transactions via dual interface cards continue to show strong consumer acceptance, with debit showing notable strength. Debit contactless transactions as a percent of Card Present activity on contactless debit cards have more than doubled from around 8.4% in January 2020 to 18.6% in Week 5 of 2021. Contactless credit transactions have also more than doubled, growing from 6.5% to 13.6% of Card Present activity on contactless credit cards in the same timeframe. We continue to view these results as conservative, as the ratio considers the proportion of contactless activity to all card present transactions, not just those able to be tapped.
    • Mobile wallet (i.e. “Pays”) transactions and purchases for both credit and debit cards continue to show good growth with Card Present activity. Debit mobile wallet purchases finished Week 5 up 59.6% year over year, lower than the previous four-week average of +69.9%. Credit mobile wallet purchases are up 35.7% year over year, lower than the previous four-week average of +45.9%. These results represent six supported mobile wallets: Apple Pay, Fitbit Pay, Garmin Pay, Google Pay, LG Pay and Samsung Pay.
    • We continue to see more volume conducted via Card Not Present (CNP) transactions. For credit, 56.2% of purchase volume and 45.2% of transactions are CNP. For debit, 44.9% of purchase volume and 31.3% of transactions are CNP. Purchase mix has held steady and is up 6 percentage points year over year for credit and 6.5 percentage points for debit. Transaction mix also remains steady, up 9.4 percentage points for credit and 7.7 percentage points for debit year over year.
    • Cash withdrawal transactions at the ATM are down year over year. For the most recent week, the number of cash withdrawals was down 24.1%, below the previous four-week average of -13.7%.
  • From a merchant category perspective, the start of 2021 continues to show strong results in Goods, Utilities, Services, Grocery Stores and Restaurants, while year-over-year performance for Travel and Entertainment remains depressed. Gasoline has rebounded to its best performance since the onset of the pandemic.

Purchases in the Goods sector remain strong, up 24.8% year over year for credit and 37.2% for debit; Utilities spend was up 21.5% year over year for debit and up 12.3% for credit; Service spend was up 12.9% year over year for debit and up 2.9% for credit;Grocery spend was up 5.7% for debit and up 11.4% for credit; Restaurants were up 7.2% for debit and down 16.2% for credit.

    • Travel was down 22.7% year over year for debit and down 54.4% for credit.
    • Gasoline was up 1.6% year over year for debit, finishing up 0.6% for January and down 9.7% for credit, finishing down 14.2% for January.
  • Our regional analysis of spend utilizes the segmentation used by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) for economic analysis. Please see the attached infographic for a map of changes to credit and debit purchases by region.
    • Overall U.S. spend was up 1.8% for credit purchases. The Plains (+2.2%), Southeast (+5.5%) and Southwest (+2.3%) finished as the strongest regions for Week 5. Hawaii (-13.2%) and the New England region (-6.3%) had the lowest credit purchase performance.
    • Overall U.S. spend was up 16.8% for debit purchases. The Great Lakes (+20.7%) and Plains (+19) finished as the strongest regions for Week 5. Hawaii (+5.8%) and the Far West (+7.9%) region had the lowest debit purchase performance.
    • PSCU’s Weekly U.S. State/Territory Analysis is available at www.PSCU.com/COVID19, ranking U.S. states and territories by year-over-year performance for debit purchases, credit purchases and ATM transactions.
  • With all eyes on the Tampa Bay area for Super Bowl LV, usually the pinnacle of both in-person and televised entertainment, this week’s deeper dive explores the Entertainment sector. For Week 5, debit purchases are down 26% and credit purchases are down 54%. While this sector represents a smaller portion of overall credit and debit spending, we have seen significant reductions in purchases in these Entertainment sub-categories since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • Arena & Stadium Sports: This category is comprised of commercial sports and pro sports clubs. Currently, Arena & Stadium Sports represent roughly 3% of the Entertainment purchases. For Week 5, debit purchases finished down 52%, well below the previous four-week average of -36% and credit purchases are down 71%, well below the previous four-week average of -64%.
    • Membership Clubs & Golf Courses: In this category are public golf courses and private golf clubs, country clubs and sports/recreation membership clubs. Currently, this subset represents 20% of debit purchases and 30% of credit purchases. For Week 5, debit purchases finished down 48%, well below the previous four-week average of -15%, and credit purchases are down 54%, well below the previous four-week average of -28%. Both significant drops are attributable to the timing of gym membership payments.
    • Parks & Attractions: This category includes amusement and theme parks, aquariums, tourist attractions, circuses and carnivals. Within the Entertainment sector, Parks & Attractions represent roughly 10% of debit purchases and 14% of credit purchases. For Week 5, debit purchases finished down 21%, just above the previous four-week average of -22% and credit purchases are down 34%, just above the previous four-week average of -38%.
    • Theaters: Included in this category are movie theaters, theatrical productions, ticket agencies, bands and orchestras. Currently, Theaters represent roughly 10% of Entertainment purchases. For Week 5, debit purchases finished down 80%, just above the previous four-week average of -82% and credit purchases are down 87%, just below the previous four-week average of -86%.
  • See the attached infographic for a breakdown of regional consumer purchasing performance in the Entertainment sector across the United States.

 

Posted on Leave a comment

Advia Credit Union Expands Partnership with PSCU’s CU Recovery & The Loan Service Center

CU Recovery & The Loan Service Center, a PSCU company, announced it has expanded its relationship with Advia Credit Union (Advia). In addition to third-party support services for recoveries on charged-off loans and shares, The Loan Service Center (TLSC), a first-party delinquency management solution for all loan types prior to charge-off, has begun providing early-stage payment reminders for the credit union.

Headquartered in Parchment, Mich., Advia was founded with a mission to provide financial advantages to its members. In looking for additional collection services, Advia Credit Union was seeking a partner that would build a solid relationship with its early-stage delinquent members, keeping them engaged and paying their loans. The credit union specifically wanted to see an impactful reduction in the number of members that default on their loans at the 30-day mark. As an organization that seamlessly integrates with the credit union collection team to provide quality calls and comprehensive collection notes, TLSC was the ideal fit.

“Collaborating with The Loan Service Center will enable our in-house collection team to maximize their time, focus and efforts on creating optimal resolutions for later-stage delinquent members,” said Joe Trotter, manager of Collections, Advia Credit Union. “We selected TLSC in part because of the team’s willingness, enthusiasm and commitment to work hard on collecting early-stage debt. TLSC’s early returns on both quantity and quality of calls has been impressive as well.”

TLSC began providing early-stage payment reminders after thoroughly reviewing Advia’s goals and department culture, developing a smooth implementation that produced immediate results.

“We are especially proud to continue to grow and expand our relationship with Advia Credit Union,” said Wendy Elieff, senior vice president, Client Service and Marketing, CU Recovery & The Loan Service Center. “We look forward to continuing to work alongside the credit union’s delinquency management team while maintaining the consistency of the member experience.”

A full-service collection agency, CU Recovery is dedicated to maximizing recoveries on charged-off loans exclusively for credit unions. The Loan Service Center provides staffing solutions for credit union collection departments to minimize losses on their delinquent active loan portfolio. For more information, visit curecovery.com.

About Advia Credit Union

Advia Credit Union’s mission is to provide financial advantages to its members. With over $2 billion in assets, Advia seeks to provide quick and easy access to money and time-saving financial tools to 180,000 members in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. Advia’s team of over 500 professionals delivers excellent service and innovative products at 29 locations and via digital and mobile platforms. Advia is guided by its core values: driving progress, acting with integrity, building and strengthening relationships, and keeping people at the core.  Visit www.adviacu.org to learn more about how we provide Real Advantages for Real People™.

About CU Recovery & The Loan Service Center

CU Recovery, a PSCU company, is a full-service collection agency managing non-performing and charged-off loans with a comprehensive menu of third-party collection services. Since 1990, CU Recovery has worked with over 2,700 credit unions nationwide and is a leading industry expert for credit union collections of all loan types. The Loan Service Center provides first-party collection services to minimize loan loss by managing early stage delinquency. The Loan Service Center’s agents work under the direction of credit union collection departments to follow procedures, while its broad spectrum of collection resources and training programs help credit unions manage and mitigate loan delinquency rates.

About PSCU

PSCU, the nation’s premier payments CUSO, supports the success of 1,500 credit unions representing more than 3.8 billion transactions annually. Committed to service excellence and focused on innovation, PSCU’s payment processing, risk management, data and analytics, loyalty programs, digital banking, marketing, strategic consulting and mobile platforms help deliver possibilities and seamless member experiences. Comprehensive, 24/7/365 member support is provided by contact centers located throughout the United States. The origin of PSCU’s model is collaboration and scale, and the company has leveraged its influence on behalf of credit unions and their members for more than 40 years. Today, PSCU provides an end-to-end, competitive advantage that enables credit unions to securely grow and meet evolving consumer demands. For more information, visit PSCU.com.